AN African lovebird, a relative of the parakeet, escaped from a still unidentified smuggler into the cabin of a Philippine Airlines plane from Bangkok that was about to land at 6:10 p.m. Sunday, creating a commotion among hundreds of passengers fearful that they would be infected with the avian flu.

The bird was eventually caught, after escaping twice from the hands of a cabin crew, but the smuggler escaped with a suspected shipment of birds, probably in a shoebox.

After the passengers have debarked Flight PR-731, an Airbus 340, was subjected to quarantine inspection and eventually fogged with disinfectant to kill any microbe brought by the bird.

Customs boarding officer Julius Raon said that a copy of the passenger manifest was given to the quarantine officials to monitor them for possible infection. The plane was eventually cleared for subsequent flights.

Teddy Ager, airport representative of the Protected Animal Welfare Services of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (Denr), said the Philippines does not allow birds or fowls from Bangkok, because the latter is a bird-flu high-risk country.

Noel Ramirez, airport quarantine medical officer, said that probably a passenger brought several pairs of the expensive pet onboard after subjecting the birds to chloroform to induce them to sleep.

He said that the cheapest pair of African lovebirds fetches P1,400, while the rare kind costs P2,400 a pair or more.

The flight from Bangkok to Manila takes about three hours, and by the time flight PR731 was about to land, Ramirez suspected that one of the birds came out of its stupor and flew away.

He based his suspicion on a similar incident last year at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, where a passenger was caught with several pairs of sedated lovebirds concealed in a shoebox.

The bird, a green and yellow species, with white speckles in the plumage was taken to Nayong Pilipino and again sedated.

Simeon Amurao, chief of the airport Veterinary Quarantine Office, said that to avoid more complications, the bird would eventually be subjected to mercy killing by injecting it with a powerful drug.

SEVERAL medical societies are forming a task force to monitor and report violations by tobacco retailers and manufacturers of Republic Act 9211, or the ad ban on cigarettes.

COTABATO CITY—The central committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is willing to surrender its fighters who were involved in the July 10 ambush in Al-Barka, Basilan, that resulted in the killing of 14 Marines looking for kidnapped Italian priest Fr. Giancarlo Bossi.

TWO nongovernment organizations on Monday called for the annulment of a multibillion-peso “toxic debt” that was used to finance the importation of medical waste incinerators by the Department of Health (DOH) 10 years ago.

AN African lovebird, a relative of the parakeet, escaped from a still unidentified smuggler into the cabin of a Philippine Airlines plane from Bangkok that was about to land at 6:10 p.m. Sunday, creating a commotion among hundreds of passengers fearful that they would be infected with the avian flu.

NEW People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas ambushed soldiers who were returning from combat operations in Sorsogon on Sunday, killing two Army troops.

THE Department of Health (DOH) on Monday allayed fears on the possible effects of eating meat products infected with hog cholera virus (HCV) that is affecting many pigs in Bulacan and Pampanga.